


Gather myself around my faith

by mspennydreadful



Series: Kane & Lilith [3]
Category: Batwoman (TV 2019)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 15:50:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21139223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mspennydreadful/pseuds/mspennydreadful
Summary: I will not be made useless / I won't be idled with despair / I will gather myself around my faith /  For light does the darkness most fear / My hands are small, I know, / But they're not yours they are my own / But they're not yours they are my own / And I am never broken.HandsJewel.Kate steps up to become a hero.





	Gather myself around my faith

It was never supposed to get bigger than Beth. And before that, it wasn't supposed to be more than Sophie's safety. At this point, Kate can barely recall if she'd thought twice about pulling on the black Kevlar and the cowl: it had seemed like a good idea at the time, and she's learned the virtues of improvising with the tools at hand many times. Hiding her face behind Bruce's mask was supposed to be about hiding her face -- not about Bruce's mask -- but she should have known better.

Even absent the humiliating overtones of envy coming off Thomas Elliot in waves, Kate can admit that her cousin casts a long shadow. Longer (and with a more impressive wingspan) than most realize, that shadow's getting in the way of her work to save her sister, and becoming a factor to account for. Regardless: the bat's out of the bag, as it were, twice over. Beth knows who currently wears the cowl (and Sophie clearly suspects, but fuck, Kate can't possibly think about the layers of lies around her ex right now) and Elliot's not even a subtle man when he's planning murder. And maybe worst of all: Gotham's looking to the skies again, not for a flock of crows but just for Knight-time come again.

Kate was never looking to be a hero. She's not the type: the landmarks of loss in her life-story are more villain's origins than anything else. But she's the flip-side to the coin, the one that landed heads' up, the surviving twin, but there's mirror-madness in Alice's eyes and in a city like Gotham, all roads lead to Arkham. But maybe, just maybe, if there's someone who would know about all that, it would be her cousin. Maybe that's the point of all of this? Lurking in shadows and caves, a dark hero for a dark city, half-mad himself as he pushes back against Arkham's creepshow?

This is a city in need of a hero, which she's really really not, but she's here and she'll do the best she can, in her own way, just like her cousin and her father. A knight in dark Kevlar, just like her cousin and her father. This work began long before she found her way to Gotham's Underworld, and it's not hers, not really, but neither is she free to abandon it -- she's a terrible Jew, but some lessons are carved into your soul. Hold fast.

Batman's Gotham was black and white, but Kate's been red in tooth and claw for a long time, and if Alice is the White Queen come to play, Batwoman's going to be the Red Queen and fight to keep everyone's heads on their shoulders.

**Author's Note:**

> “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it." _Pirkei Avot_ 2:21.
> 
> Kate's Jewishness is less than explicit in the show, but I love that she's not only a badass lesbian hero, but also a badass Jewish hero, and her reasoning this episode to the idea of stepping up to take on 'the work' of the Bat made me really think about this quotation.


End file.
